taped shut


Senior Member
What does the bolded expression below mean ?

What she felt most of all, especially after Amanda showed up, was discouraged, as if she’d either underestimated the task itself or overestimated (wildly) her ability to see it through to its inevitable conclusion –the saved furniture stored in the barn below, the rugs rolled up and taped shut, the yellow Ryder van in the driveway, throwing its shadow on the board fence between her yard and the Galloways’ next door.
Source: Lisey's Story by Stephen King

Thank you
  • jacdac

    Senior Member
    Thank you. Is it common way to say it this way ? taped shut instead of held in rolled up position with tape?


    Senior Member
    English - England
    "Taped" is fine. "Shut" is odd because you don't usually think of a rolled up rug as "shut". You can perhaps think of it as a transferred epithet - the property is shut, not the rug.
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